THE NATION

By STEVEN A. HOLMES

Published: February 13, 1994

WASHINGTON—
BLACK racism. For some blacks it is a laughable oxymoron. ("How can the victims of racism be racist?") For some whites it is an excuse for doing little to reduce the inequalities that still plague the country. ("See, blacks are just as bad as they say we are.")

The recent diatribe against Catholics, Jews and homosexuals (among others) by Khalid Abdul Muhammad, a member of the hierarchy of the Nation of Islam, has focused attention on the disturbing question of how much racism permeates black America. Indeed, the public fascination with the Nation of Islam -- a fringe group with negligible political and economic power -- is partly explained by white fear that its views are shared by other blacks. Looking at the cleaning women, the bank tellers, partners in their law firm, some whites silently ask, "Do you agree with Louis Farrakhan?"

Until recently, the question of how blacks view whites has been largely unexplored territory for scholars and sociologists. Why have sociologists not probed the black psyche to see how much racial animus resides there? Perhaps because they are afraid of what they might find; perhaps because they feel that since whites are the dominant group, their views are more important; perhaps because they feel that blacks have no opinions that whites are bound to respect.

But recent work by pollsters, sociologists and political scientists has uncovered evidence of specific negative attitudes that blacks may harbor toward whites in general and Jews in particular. Seeking responses to a series of assertions (Jews tend to stick together more than other Americans; Jews wield too much power on Wall Street; Jews are more willing than others to use shady practices to get what they want), a 1992 survey by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith found that blacks are more than twice as likely as non-Jewish whites to hold stereotypical views of Jews.

Preliminary findings in a study to be published soon by the National Conference of Christians and Jews found that blacks feel that whites think themselves superior, and that they do not want to share power and wealth with nonwhites. The poll found that black antipathy toward whites is far greater than that of other minorities, such as Latinos and Asian-Americans. 'Fill in the Blanks'

"Of course, there's black racism," said Roger Wilkins, a professor of history at George Mason University, who is black. "I think that any time that you say that a whole group of people is this or that, fill in the blanks, and the blanks are all negative adjectives, and then you go on to prove your conclusions by telling stories that support your use of those adjectives, that's racism."

But, as another black writer, Ellis Cose, points out in his 1993 book, "The Rage of a Privileged Class" (HarperCollins), the harboring of negative views by blacks does not tell the whole story. Surveys of blacks also find that many give American whites, both Jew and gentile, high marks for intelligence and for creating a democratic society. Viewed in this light, the results of the surveys may be less an affirmation of racism than an expression of envy and a plea to share power.

Racism among blacks, whatever its extent, has been like magma bubbling under black nationalism. Like other nationalist movements -- Zionists, the Quebecois in Canada, Serbs seeking a "Greater Serbia" -- those embraced by some blacks have used ethnic solidarity as a political organizing tool.

For some mainstream black politicians, black anger toward whites presents both opportunity and temptation. Just as white politicians often take advantage, some discreetly and others more cynically, of racist attitudes among whites, so black politicians are aware of hostility among their constituents. And when they tap into it, they confront a question of conscience: When do they cross the line into demagoguery?

A call for unity is by implication a call for exclusivity. The desire to maintain that solidarity makes it difficult for many blacks to denounce black racism. But the censure of Mr. Muhammad by people like the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Benjamin Chavis, executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Representative Kweisi Mfume of Maryland, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, shows that difficult does not mean impossible. Indeed, black officials have shown more willingness to move beyond solidarity than have members of the United States Senate who met with silence the remarks of Senator Ernest F. Hollings when he jokingly implied in December, while commenting on trade talks in Switzerland, that African heads of state are cannibals. A Hollings aide later said the Senator meant no offense.

There are those who argue that even if blacks espouse racist views, it makes little difference since they lack the power to turn those views into action. Such a rationale was articulated by Mr. Farrakhan at his recent press conference: "Really, racism has to be coupled with a sense of real power."

Mr. Farrakhan may have a point. For all the racial bombast by the Nation of Islam and other strident black nationalists, America has had no episodes of large-scale co-ordinated attacks by blacks against whites. But individual acts like the beating of the trucker Reginald O. Denny during the Los Angeles riots demonstrate that black bigotry can maim people and poison the atmosphere.

There is no denying that black bigotry is fed by social and economic conditions. Even discounting, as some whites do, the country's history of slavery, segregation and discrimination, there are trends that insure black resentment of whites will not diminish soon, and that black demagogues will find allies among the disaffected.

Black poverty rates remain stubbornly high. Progress toward closing the income gap between the races stalled in 1975, according to census data, and since then the gap has widened. (For instance, male black college graduates who entered the job market in 1971 earned on average 2 percent more than their white counterparts, but by 1989 the same blacks were earning 25 percent less on average than white men who graduated in 1971.)

Blacks remain the most segregated group, according to the census. Whether it is the result of whites making blacks feel unwelcome, or of declining faith in integration among some blacks, black Americans and white Americans remain huddled in their corners, afraid that any attempt to reach out will tar them with labels: bleeding heart, Uncle Tom. "We don't live next door to each other," said Lani Guinier, the law school professor whose nomination as Assistant Attorney General for civil rights was withdrawn in a controversy over her voting-rights theories. "No one talks to each other. Racial sterotypes fester in isolation."

Photo: Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, making a speech in New York late last year. (Lee Romero/The New York Times)